Billy Buffalo
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- Mar 16, 2019
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The Bills were thought to be interested in Trey Flowers before he signed with the Lions and they hosted Ziggy Ansah on a visit, which may have had some people wondering if last year’s big signing at defensive end would be sticking around for another year.
Trent Murphy signed a three-year, $22.5 million contract as a free agent last year and he produced 24 tackles, four sacks and two forced fumbles while appearing in 13 games. Murphy was coming off a 2017 torn ACL and dealt with some nagging injuries during the season, but it doesn’t appear durability issues will keep the Bills from having Murphy back again this year.
As Mike Rodak of ESPN.com points out, Murphy had $2.5 million of his $5.8 million 2019 salary guaranteed on the fifth day of the new league year. He also received a $500,000 roster bonus and the dual outlays of cash make moving on from Murphy prohibitive for a team that still has money to spend on further additions to the defensive line.
The Bills will have another decision to make at defensive end in regard to their option for a fifth year on Shaq Lawson‘s contract. That decision is not due until May, however, so the team has time to figure out what other options they will have on hand.